This is my first book by Celeste Ng, and I have to say that I found the writing to be outstanding. I adore this type of writing, where you can actually say the difference between the two narrators we find in the story, but also where you can get to know their hearts and their minds so well. It hooked me from the very beginning because of how fast-paced and well developed this book is. You always want to know more, you get nervous for the things about to happen, and you can easily keep reading and not think twice about how much you are reading because you just forget. That shows how easily this book holds you and pulls you into the story.

Bird as a character is impressive. He's a child, yes, but he has already been through a lot, and I felt a hollow in my heart, to see a child having to face all the cruelty this world had, it was a lot. It was scary. The rest of the characters get more development while we go deeper into the story, and I swear each of them got a piece of my heart.

This is a book with a message, with a lot of criticism about racism and the way the world treats a group of people just because it's told to do so. There are some clear real-life references in this story that can be triggering, so please check the trigger warning before reading it!
It also has a developing of the idea of parenthood in many ways, through the good and bad, and that's a great perspective to read. You know these words were made with the heart, and it makes the story so beautiful.

The ending was missing something for me, but that didn't make this book any less impactful than it was. I loved it and deeply recommend it.

Our Missing Hearts is the newest release by Celeste Ng. This book is a departure from her previous two books in that it's set in the future in a semi-dystopian world. America is recovering from the Crisis and as a result many people have disappeared or had their lives changed drastically. Families are being separated and neighbors are encouraged to be hyper-vigilant of their neighbors and to report any infractions. All of this causes some pretty intense situations that Ng deftly explores. Read and enjoy!

Thank you Penguin Press and NetGalley for the ARC of Our Missing Hearts. I have been a fan of Celeste's books since reading Little Fires Everywhere and Everything I Never Told You. The fact that one of the character works in a library is a huge bonus too. I love that Bird's mother told him stories and was a writer. This story is woven fatanstically and kept me guessing throughout. The story is told in three parts. The power of words hits home in this amazing novel!

Book bans, discrimination against Asians, a national Crisis that nearly broke the country — the dystopian America in Our Missing Hearts, the latest novel from Little Fires Everywhere author Celeste Ng, is all too similar to the America we’re living in now.

In Our Missing Hearts’ dystopian version of America, the country is still reeling from a recent, unspecified economic catastrophe known as The Crisis. There was no one specific cause, but once people noticed that countries like China, Korea and Japan saw a rise in GDP while America’s economy continued to decline, this kicked off a new wave of anti-Asian hatred and a rise in patriotism from “true Americans.” The Crisis finally ended when the president signed the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act (PACT), which focused on finding seditious Persons of Asian Origin (PAOs). Eventually, if people weren’t considered patriotic enough or anti-Asian enough, they were investigated. Any Asian authors deemed unpatriotic were canceled, their works banned. Soon, in an echo of generations past, the government started forcibly removing the children of people it deemed traitorous.

And that is where Ng begins her story—not with the blueprint for an alternate reality for America, but with a child trying to make sense of why his mother left. 12-year-old Bird, half Asian, half white, lives with his librarian father in a Harvard dorm tucked away from the world. They moved there shortly after Bird’s mother, Margaret, up and left without saying why. Margaret was a poet whose words became a rallying cry after a woman died at an anti-PACT protest holding a copy of her book. Bird has heard she was a traitor and a PAO sympathizer. But when he receives a coded letter in the mail one day, he knows it’s from his mom. He sets out to find her, and then he learns his mother’s side of the events that led to her leaving the family.

REad more at https://bookandfilmglobe.com/fiction/book-review-our-missing-hearts-celeste-ng/

“Your mom is a traitor.”

4.5 stars

Our Missing Hearts is a powerful, dystopian novel about love, loss, and the power of a mother’s love.

12-year-old Bird’s life changed when his mother left three years ago. He now lives with his father, a former professor turned librarian, in a dorm. They live a quiet, compliant life as they have no choice as they live in an America where books are banned, cultural and historical-themed internet searches are blocked, people of Asian descent are targeted, and children are forcefully separated from their unpatriotic parents.

When Bird receives a mysterious letter from his mother, he goes on a journey to find her and, in doing so, faces a new America he wasn’t prepared to see.

Told in three parts, the narrative belongs to Bird. He is a compelling character, and his growth throughout is subtle. However, there are also chapters from his mother Margaret’s point of view. Her final act left me in tears.

With an emphasis on libraries, books, poetry, and storytelling, Ng explores the power of words, shared stories, the voices on the margins, and, most significantly, those who have been silenced.

The title holds special meaning.

This is an emotional, beautifully written story exploring complex and timely issues. It is also chilling, as, in many ways, it hits too close to reality.

“What happens now is a choice.”

TW: violence, with one particular scene involivng a dog.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Penguin Group in exchange for an honest review.

“Instead of silence, she chose fire.”
“Over the years her words repeated this cycle -resurrection in the darkness, death at first light- until eventually their lives were inscribed in flame.”

In an all too real dystopian near future, the US has been transformed by “The Crisis”. Resurrected only through scapegoating blame and the PACT. For the past 10 years everyone has lived according to legislation designed to Protect American Culture and Traditions. Bird's Chinese American mother and famous poet has disappeared, leaving Bird and his father behind. Her loss is a hole that no amount of grief or curiosity can fill. Until Bird begins to follow an impossible, improbable trail.

Oh my the warmth, the ache, the beautiful writing. A book to be read and discussed. A great #BookClub title that explores the full extent of a mother’s love for her son: tragic, heartbreaking, and hopeful. @pronounced_ing has crafted a love letter to language, to books and the power stories have in our lives. A heart swelling depiction of #librarians, a secret network of hidden gems. Our Missing Hearts offers a brilliant conversation about family and connection; about the community we embrace and the one we willfully ignore. Raw commentary on our lived experience and eerily relatable version of possible outcomes. #Read this #book with friends. You will want to discuss so much of what is vital and relevant about this story. So glad to see this being featured @ReesesBookClub . #OurMissingHearts deserves as much attention as it can possibly get. Out now. Thanks @netgalley for the opportunity to preview this title.

Absolutely blown away by the latest novel by Celeste Ng -- which celebrated its PUB DAY yesterday!

OUR MISSING HEARTS tells the story of a young son, Bird, and his mother. It's set in a dystopian society that honestly doesn't feel so far off or distant from our own...

As Ng explains, "Bird and Margaret's world isn't exactly our world, but isn't not ours, either." A world where children are removed from homes, anti-Asian hate crimes, violent protests, police brutality, and overpowering leadership -- but within all of these heavy topics, comes a moving and lyrical story about unbreakable family bonds, the power of storytelling, and the importance of standing up for the next generation.

This definitely is a thought-provoking read that will leave you wanted to talk about with others -- which is why I am not surprised to see that it's ReesesBookClub October pick.

If you enjoyed Ng's other books, or Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale or Jessamine Chain's A School for Good Mothers, this one is for you!

THANK YOU Penguin Press for an advanced ebook in exchange for an honest review! This book is out NOW :)

Not surprised ONE BIT that this was a Reese’s book club pick! This book is worth all of the hype. Unsurprisingly has a HUGE wait at our library already!

Holy cow, can she write. It’s dark, but not in the way you’d think. It’s nothing like her previous works, but oh how she made it her own!!

It’s literary, it’s historical, and it’s real. She clearly knows what she’s talking about. This book is going to stick with me for a long time.

Wow this was a great book. Lots of parallels to Margaret Atwood's Handmaid's Tale, so it was no surprise to see that Ms. Ng acknowledgement of that book in the afterward. Ironically, I had just been to an event with Ms. Atwood the night I finished this book. I enjoyed how this book imagines what could happen if we do not stand up for our rights that are under attack today

Happy book birthday to <i>Our Missing Hearts</i>!

*I was given an eARC in exchange for my honest review. Thank you Netgalley!*

I adored [book:Little Fires Everywhere|34273236], so I knew I had to read this new addition to Ng's accomplishments. I expected another complex contemporary drama. I was way off.

One part dystopian, one part criticism, <i>Our Missing Hearts</i> takes the sins of our past (the government taking children away from their parents to force obedience) and applies it to our anxiety of the future. It was written just after the pandemic and the surge of Asian-American hate that followed, playing heavily on American nationalism and what could have been. The story is told through the eyes of a thirteen year old biracial boy desperate to understand why his life has changed and where his mother disappeared to. It's the classic systemic-issues-told-through-the-eyes-of-a-child plot that we all love to read. It's about family, fear, hope, and revolution.

I loved the Ng touched on the child-snatching topic, because it seems to get very little attention in fiction. I do wish she would have included other instances of this playing out in real life in her note at the end - it's way more widespread than you'd think, and it's all too easy to be the one cheering such tragic crimes on. We saw that during COVID.

I also liked the inclusion in little-known folklore, and finally, the ending. As the pages left to read dwindled, I knew there wasn't much hope for it to play out the way I wanted it to. The way it actually did felt appropriate.

“Our Missing Hearts,” by Celeste Ng, Penguin Press, 352 pages, Oct. 4, 2022.

This is set in a dystopian near future in which Asian Americans are regarded with scorn and mistrust. Under the Preserving American Culture and Traditions Act, authorities are allowed to relocate children of dissidents, especially those of Asian origin.

Noah Gardner is 12. He lives with his father, Ethan Gardner, a former linguist who now shelves books in Harvard University’s library. Noah was called Bird until his mother left three years ago. Bird knows not to stand out too much.

Libraries have been forced to remove books seen as unpatriotic—including the work of Bird’s mother, Margaret Miu, a Chinese American poet. Bird’s father even burned her books. Margaret wrote a poem that became a rallying cry for those protesting PACT.

Students have to recite the PACT pledge at the start of every school day. Bird’s best friend, Sadie Greenstein, lives with foster parents because her parents were dissidents. Then Sadie disappears. Under PACT, protests are banned. But lately, weird stunts aimed against PACT have been happening. Bird and his father see a sign that reads “Bring back our missing hearts.”

Out of the blue, Bird receives a letter. There is nothing in it except a drawing of cats. Since the letter was addressed to Bird, he believes it is from his mother. Bird decides to find her. He keeps seeing “missing hearts” messages. Bird’s journey will take him back to the folktales she told him as a child, through the ranks of an underground network of librarians, into the lives of the children who have been taken.

“Our Missing Hearts” is about how some people become afraid of others. But the underlying story is about parents love for their children. In the author's notes Celeste Ng writes, “Bird and Margaret's world isn't exactly our world, but it isn't not ours, either." This is easily one of the best novels of the year. It is powerful, beautifully written and deeply moving.

In accordance with FTC guidelines, the advance reader's edition of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a review.

Our Missing Hearts it's a deeply touching, thought provoking, emoton evoking dystopian read. As always, Ng delivers a character driven story filled with complex characters and a plot so captivating you cannot forget about it.

A story about love and family, about the actions we take in life and the impact our choices have on others. A story about injustices and yet somehow a story of strength and hope.

This book leaves you with a lot to think about. A lot. And I already think about re-reading and annotating every page of this book.

This is one of the most anticipated inspiring novels this year. Everything Celeste wrote is depicted for the future, but is being played out before our eyes. We live in a broken world crowded by economic instability and violence. As the tragic grimness runs through your mind, so does the fear of history repeating itself and what we pass down to the next generation. This is well described as "a mother's unbreakable love in a world consumed by fear".
Margaret, a Chinese American poet and mother must leave her home to protect her son, Bird, from being removed from the home and relocated because of her resistance in the law PACT, which protects the American Culture and disregards anyone else's beliefs that is considered unhealthy or unpatriotic to America. Everything from the internet to books are censored and a strict inequality in surveillance is placed on those in resistance. Books are removed, but not burned as they were in Ray Bradbury's dystopia Fahrenheit 451 or the Nazi removal of books like Markus Zusak's The Book Thief, instead they are turned to pulp and used as toilet paper. Some books are placed in an underground library network, such as Margaret's poetry about racial injustice and is part of the hidden contraband. Her poetry reaches out to the world at how America got to this point, which brings us back to our presence of police brutality, hate, and bigotry.
Bird is 9 years old when his mother leaves him and his father. His story is told in innocence at 12 years old, which is too young to know what is going on. One of his closest friends, Sadie, is pulled from the home and put into foster care because her family was not teaching her the "American Culture". Bird's father told him to hide his own Asian origin and keep his head down.

As a librarian, we see the nation banning books and voicing it as protecting the "American Culture". What's next? Children have been pulled from their mother's arms and placed in "government care" as they crossed the border hoping for a better life. We are not immune from this thought provoking novel that represents hope and truth at its finest. Outstanding, Celeste Ng! I need to step back and cry.
I encourage this book to be for everyone. "Books feed the soul" and I am thankful I read it.
Thank you NetGalley and PENGUIN GROUP The Penguin Press for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Celeste Ng is absolutely brilliant. I really enjoyed this book. This story is so important given the current state of the world. I'm not the biggest fan of dystopian, which I think effects my rating, but I think this book is going to find it's audience in a really big way.

Celeste Ng’s latest novel “Our Missing Hearts” speaks to anti-Asian violence and discrimination, child separation, book banning, and a culture of surveillance, a dystopian version of the United States set in the not-too-distant future, a future that is all too visible from here.

It’s also the story of a boy named Bird, determined to find his missing mother, Margaret Miu, a dissident poet whose work inspires resistance to the authoritarian regime. Margaret disappeared voluntarily, in hopes of preventing Bird from being separated from both his parents and “re-placed” in a different family. It’s been years since Bird saw her and finally, a mysterious letter arrives that must be, can only be from her.

Bird’s father, a former professor who is no longer allowed to teach, has instructed him to tell people that they have nothing to do with Margaret, that she is out of their lives. He insists that Bird be called by his given name Noah and not his mother’s special nickname for him. But Bird is determined to look for her before all his memories of her fade away. With meager clues, he runs away, unsure if he will find Margaret but certain that he needs to try.

Ng is adept at creating small moments that touch the reader’s heart: Bird, breathing in the old book smell of the library as he runs his fingers over the book spines; Margaret, patiently creating tiny sites of resistance; Bird’s friend Sadie, wrapped in a towel after a shower when strangers come to remove her from her own home. These make the larger ideas in the book so much more immediate and personal.

The power of words and stories is a deep thread throughout the book. Libraries have been stripped of their histories and other works that sound threatening to those in power. Some remain in academic libraries like the one in which Bird’s dad works as a library assistant. But they are restricted and only researchers whose work has been pre-approved can access them. Still, in a nod to the role libraries play in freedom of expression, Ng gives librarians a secret role to play in the resistance.

“Our Missing Hearts” is a departure for Ng, whose previous books deal with Asian-American characters in more traditional family dramas. This dystopian novel is the book we need now though, before it’s too late. I highly recommend “Our Missing Hearts” and will purchase it for my library. I received a free copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is easily my new favorite book by Celeste Ng!! I am a sucker for a good dystopian novel and this book gave me all the best Handmaid's tale/Farenheit 451 vibes!

While fiction, this book was steeped in realism, drawing on anti-Asian movements and banned book culture. Anyone who loves a story about the power of mother's love, underground movements and helping reunite removed children with their parents will need to get the tissues handy!

I enjoyed how the story was told through the eyes of young Bird, a biracial Asian American boy who is living in this new, stricter America with his father and has very few memories of his activist mother who authored the banned story "Our missing hearts."

Over the course of the book, we get to discover more about what happened in the past and where Bird's mother is now. Amazing on audio narrated by Lucy Liu with an author interview included at the end.

I'm so happy for Celeste Ng to be the first two-time Reese Book club pick too! Thought-provoking and full of heart, this is a story you won't soon forget after finishing! Much thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an early digital copy and Libro.fm for an ALC in exchange for my honest review!

On my! What an eye opener of a book. Ng once again writes about race relations and how Asian Americans are treated and viewed. Set in a time where the nation has adopted a PACT that dictates undying national loyalty and turns Americans against each other and separates children from their families in the name of preserving our culture and traditions. How scary to think about our country if we go too far in not allowing for diversification and individualism.

This book is about to start some serious discussions. Reese Witherspoon has chosen it as the October 2022 book club title, so lots of people will discover this fictional treasure. Although Our Missing Hearts is fiction, it’s easy to see how current news and historical events have done grave damage to innocent people. Celeste Ng has written an important book which I hope many readers will embrace.

I think this is the first book where I truly felt the depth of COVID's influence on fiction, I'm very interested to see if this trend continues in Ng's future works

This book was very well written and also hard to read. It is a depressing look at a futuristic dystopian USA where people are under watchful eyes on the chance you are caught being Anti-American. There is strong discrimination against Asian Americans and China in general, and the brutality against any Asian is written off. In this world, children are taken from parents if they are accused of these Anti-American views and are never returned. The main character is a young boy who lives with his father but his mother was removed from the house due to her Chinese heritage and her published work of poetry which is misconstrued as Anti-American. He goes on a quest to find her and when he does, is surprised at what he sees. I couldn't decide if this book was trying to manipulate the reader into believing that our world was on the brink of this nightmare. It seemed very 1984 meets Handmaid's Tale.